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Illegal Drug Trade in Africa: Trends and U.S. Policy

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Illegal Drug Trade in Africa: Trends and U.S. Policy Illegal Drug Trade in Africa: Trends and U.S. Policy Liana Sun Wyler Analyst in International Crime and Narcotics Nicolas Cook Specialist in African Affairs September 30, 2009 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R40838 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Illegal Drug Trade in Africa: Trends and U.S. Policy Summary Africa has historically held a peripheral role in the transnational illicit drug trade, but in recent years has increasingly become a locus for drug trafficking, particularly of cocaine. Recent estimates suggest that each year between 46 and 300 metric tons of South American cocaine may transit West Africa en route to Europe. Recent cocaine seizure levels are sharply higher than those in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which in all of Africa rarely exceeded 1 metric ton a year. Africa’s emergence as a trafficking nexus appears to have resulted from structural shifts in international drug trafficking patterns, including heighted European demand for cocaine, international counternarcotics pressure driving drug traffickers away from traditional trafficking routes, and the operational allure for traffickers of low levels of law enforcement capacity and high rates of corruption in many African countries. The growth of drug trafficking through Africa poses new challenges to international counternarcotics efforts, as well as a variety of emergent threats to the United States. Novel strategies and adaptations of existing efforts may be required to track emergent drug flow patterns, dismantle major criminal syndicates involved in such trafficking, and prevent future hotspots from emerging. While most of the cocaine transiting Africa is destined for Europe, and little of it enters the United States, other illicit substances trafficked through the region, notably heroin and illegally traded chemical precursors used to produce illicit drugs, do enter the United States. The growing drug trade in Africa also poses other threats to U.S. interests. These include the reported involvement of Latin American criminal groups, including elements of at least one U.S.-designated terrorist organization, that are targets of U.S. counternarcotics or military operations. Other challenges include threats to U.S. policy interests and assistance programs in Africa, such as efforts to advance good governance, political stability, rule of law, and human rights, and programs to build African law enforcement and counternarcotics capacities. U.S. counternarcotics policy responses to the rise in trans-Africa drug trafficking are in the formative stages. Several U.S. agencies are evaluating the scope of the problem and identifying short-term remedies, such as efforts to expand drug monitoring and interdiction in Africa, and long-term efforts designed to strengthen local capacity to combat drugs in the region. In recent years, U.S. agencies have begun to devote greater resources to combating the drug trade in Africa. The State Department requested $7.5 million for counternarcotics assistance in Africa in FY2010, up from about $0.5 million in FY2006, while the Department of Defense (DOD) plans to allocate $19.3 million in FY2009 and $28 million in FY2010 to counternarcotics programs in Africa. The threat of drug trafficking in Africa has drawn attention in recent Congresses. P.L. 110-417, for instance, required that DOD submit a report to Congress laying out a counternarcotics strategy for the region. On June 23, 2009, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing entitled Confronting Drug Trafficking in West Africa. In responding to recent and ongoing executive branch efforts to devote increased resources and attention to this problem, Congress may choose to review existing authorities and funding levels for counternarcotics programs in Africa. Key policy questions that may arise in this respect include how best to reduce gaps in intelligence and data collection relating to the drug trade in Africa, how to balance short-term and long-term counternarcotics goals and strategies, how various U.S. civilian and military and international agency counternarcotics roles and responsibilities in Africa should be defined, and what types and levels of resources these efforts may require. Congressional Research Service Illegal Drug Trade in Africa: Trends and U.S. Policy Contents Introduction: The Rising Drug Trafficking Threat........................................................................1 Implications for U.S. Interests.....................................................................................................2 Confluence of Transnational Drug Syndicates and Other Security Threats .............................3 Potential Links Between Drug Trafficking and Terrorist Groups............................................4 Potential for Narco-Violence? ...............................................................................................5 Other Threats to U.S. Foreign Policy Goals...........................................................................5 Corruption and Other Funding-Based Threats to Law Enforcement .................................6 Possible Economic Effects ..............................................................................................6 Possible Governance Impacts..........................................................................................7 Drug Trafficking and Use Trends in Africa ..................................................................................7 Trafficking: Overview...........................................................................................................7 Cocaine.................................................................................................................................9 Sources and Destinations.................................................................................................9 Volume .........................................................................................................................10 Geography of Trafficking.............................................................................................. 11 Trafficking Patterns and Actors .....................................................................................12 Heroin.................................................................................................................................14 Cannabis and Cannabis Resin..............................................................................................16 Synthetic Drugs and Precursor Chemicals ...........................................................................20 Illicit Drug Use Trends in Africa ...............................................................................................22 Focus on West Africa: Explaining the Emergence of the Sub-region as a Global Cocaine Transit Hub............................................................................................................................23 Driving Factors...................................................................................................................23 Push Factors .................................................................................................................23 Pull Factors...................................................................................................................24 Driving Factors: Two Applied Examples .......................................................................25 Role of West African Criminal Syndicates...........................................................................26 U.S. Policy................................................................................................................................27 Interagency Approach .........................................................................................................28 Implementation...................................................................................................................29 Counternarcotics Foreign Assistance ...................................................................................30 State Department...........................................................................................................30 DOD/AFRICOM ..........................................................................................................31 Maritime and Airport Security Assistance......................................................................33 Detection, Monitoring, and Interdiction Operations .............................................................33 Drug Enforcement Administration Role...............................................................................34 Drug-Related Anti-money Laundering Efforts .....................................................................35 Multilateral and Regional Efforts to Combat Drug Trafficking in Africa ....................................35 Congressional Role and Possible Oversight Issues.....................................................................39 Data Reliability: Implications for Analysis and Policymaking..............................................39 Short-Term, Targeted Counternarcotics Assistance Versus Long-Term Law Enforcement Capacity Building........................................................................................40 Resource Level and Allocation Considerations ....................................................................41 Defining Agency Roles and Responsibilities .......................................................................42
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